IDEAS&APPLICATIONS
material savings, higher energy efficiency or the ever-elusive affordability. On the contrary, parametric design often has been reduced to creating architectural expressions. At Intelligent City, parametric thinking has become an inherent aspect of the design process. On a fundamental level, design principles are developed not with single values but with a range of values. Decision making is not constrained by linear or hierarchical processes, but instead through the exploration of information from multiple perspectives in a nonlinear process. Among those are project objectives, different climate conditions, local site conditions, construction sequencing, building bylaws and, importantly, the broad range of tenant needs in their everevolving live/work environments. Apartment types stored in a parametric library can be assigned to a building shape and can have their dimensions adjusted accordingly. Certain constraints influence how the apartment manifests within the available space, and available variations can be selected manually. If there is enough space, a studio apartment might get a storage space or a larger kitchen. Even at an early stage in a project, this process results in a lot of data for decision making, from construction cost to operational income. Proformas can be adapted readily to different building types, building form or varying the look and feel depending on contextual response or owners’ branding needs.
Automated prefabrication means integrated design adaptability: by employing industrial robots at certain assembly steps, processes can be automated yet varied.
Incremental innovation is not enough
This concept is particularly powerful if the entire value chain of a building is incorporated. Once the underlying rules of building systems, materials and construction methods become part of a parametric design process, viable and buildable design variations can be achieved within seconds. If properly implemented, such parametric systems can generate fully detailed building information. In our industry, such all-encompassing algorithms have made little sense in traditional building projects. In the early stages of design, an architect might have the most freedom
but often little certainty about the construction materials and processes. In typical design-bid-build projects, the construction firm joins the project at a stage where their input often can impede the design instead of enabling a fruitful interdisciplinary environment. Why build complex algorithms that could automatically generate all building elements and construction details if the building system is unclear or could potentially change materiality at a later stage in the project? The investment in the development of such algorithms does not make sense for the traditional architect. Some architecture firms with a high throughput of similar buildings have started to develop algorithms that support a certain subset of design problems that are common across multiple projects. Many firms have developed tools such as automated massing studies, energ y performance studies or movement analyses for office spaces. While those algorithms can make design processes faster and result in b e t t e r-f u n c t i o n i n g buildings, they do little in solving the true pain points of construction, because they are not directly tied in with information about construction, bu i ld i ng systems and their materials Intelligent City is currently commissioning their or manufacturing robotic processes, which will process, assemble processes. and fix mass timber elements within their floor W he n design, panel and envelope panel components. engineering, materiality and construction converge within a vertically integrated company, buildings become products. Like a laptop, phone or car, the resulting design and quality of a building becomes as important as its manufacturing process. For buildings, however, the product should not embody a singular solution, but each iteration can be unique in its expression through the integration of parametric design principles. One material has shown particular promise to accommodate such systemic change: mass timber. Although wood is one of the oldest building materials, it lends itself well to modern automation and prefabrication, which are both crucial aspects in this new product-based paradigm. Aside from its obvious sustainability and health benefits, wood is lightweight and can be machined easily and processed in a factory environment. In addition, mass timber can be used for high-rise construction and offers advantages for the automated production of largescale building components. ‒ s p r ing / su m m e r 2 0 2 1
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